Christians in the bombed-out, Israel-closed Gaza Strip feel abandoned because Pope Benedict XVI of the Vatican will snub their coastal enclave during his upcoming several-day visit to the Holy Lands.

"We are disappointed that he will not visit the Strip and see the scale of destruction with his eyes," Hala Saleeba, 41, a teacher in the Holy Family Christian School in Gaza, told IslamOnline.net.

"The one who sees with eyes is not the same as the one who hears with ears."

Motasem Dalloul, Islam Online, April 21, 2009

Most members of a local congregation have never met 5-year-old Grace Awad.But her vocabulary, they say, has strengthened their faith.

On Sunday, Grace's dad, the Rev. Daniel Awad, shared a story about a family vacation to visit relatives in Michigan. When it was time to go, Grace grew upset.

"I don't want to go home," she said. "I don't want to go back to the siege."

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE, Jerusalem Gateway, April 4, 2009

The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities called on Canada to cancel an exhibition of Dead Sea Scrolls, which an official said were stolen by Israel from the West Bank, AFP reported on Sunday.

"The exhibition would entail exhibiting or displaying artifacts removed from the Palestinian territories," said Hamdan Taha of the ministry's archaeological department, according to the Toronto Star Newspaper.

Maan News, April 12, 2009

The Gaza Strip, a piece of land within Israel, was center stage during Dr. Hanna Massad's lecture Monday in Kayser Auditorium.

Titled "Being a Christian in Gaza", Massad's talk was part of the Global Issues Lecture Series and focused on the struggles Christians within Gaza face.

The Islam/Judaism conflicts within and surrounding the borders of the Gaza Strip are the usual attention getters for the Middle Eastern country, Massad said.

Baylor Web site, April 7, 2009

Mrs. Ruba Kardosh ,Nazareth Baptist School Science and Mathematics teacher among the 33 teachers who reached the finals of the nationwide contest of the Israel widespread Israeli newspaper “Yediot Ahronot”. The newspaper published the names and pictures of the finalistsof the contest including Mrs. Kardoshon Friday the 27th of March with the following description:

Mrs. Ruba Kardosh teaches Mathematics and science in the Baptist School in Nazareth. She coordinates the "excellence 2000" program in school and the "Green" program that's main purpose is to prevent violence among youth. She brought into the building of the sophisticated "space lab" in school and operates it once a week voluntary for the rest of other schools in town.

Special For Come and See, April 7, 2009

Nearly 1.8 million of the 3 million tourists who came to Israel last year were Christians, the ministry said. In 2000, 1.5 million Christians came. The number of Christian visitors from Eastern Europe and Africa was up dramatically in 2008 compared to 2000, while the figures for Western Europe and Asia fell.

ETGAR LEFKOVITS, Jerusalem Post, Apr 3, 2009

Recently, I caught word that an exciting new educational initiative in Israel between the Messianic community and Arab Christians was underway involving up to 3,000 students from K-12 schools through college and seminary. Botrus Mansour, head of the Nazareth Baptist School, filled me in about the details. He told me by email:

On Monday, Feb. 23, 45 Arab and Jewish representatives from all the Messianic and Evangelical educational organizations in Israel met at the Israel College of the Bible (ICB) in Jerusalem and unanimously approved setting up the Israel Education Forum (IEF). (Right photo, left to right, educators Bryson Arthur (Nazareth Seminary), Erez Soref (ICB), Yohanna Katanacho (Galilee Bible, Bethlehem Bible colleges) at the kickoff event.)

By Tim Morgan, Christianity Today, March 9, 2009

The vast majority of Israeli Jews does not have negative feelings toward Christians living in Israel, but nearly the same proportion believes the state should not allow land to be used for constructing new churches in Jerusalem, according to a study published Thursday.

Nadav Shargai, Haaretz, Feb 20, 2009

Leading Christian and Muslim clergymen are calling on Pope Benedict XVI to postpone his planned visit to Israel, which is scheduled for May, in protest of a comedy skit seen on the late-night variety television show hosted by comedian Lior Shlein.

In a press conference held on Wednesday in Nazareth, religious leaders denounced Shlein for a spoof entitled "Like a virgin" which depicts two characters who play Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

In the skit, Mary is heard saying she had slept with many men and that she was not a virgin at all.

Special For "Come and See", Feb 19, 2009